News

Carmi Parker of Whatcom County Library System has released another weekly update of the Washington state led boycott of Blackstone Audio over its embargo on selected titles to libraries.

The library group has hoped that Blackstone would respond to several questions they had posed jointly. A Blackstone representative has denied the request. Ms. Parker said to ReadersFirst “There were multiple shared questions that we hoped would be answered in a way that demonstrate that they were hearing us. As it is, the only official communication (still!) has been the notification libraries received through OverDrive and the boilerplate email response they sent when we complained.”

To the question “Will Blackstone ask its strategic partner [Amazon/Audible?] to enable embargoed content on the eLending platforms?,” (that is, could library vendors carry the titles), the answer was that Blackstone would not approach its partner.

It would seem that in spite of suggestions that they would speak with libraries, Blackstone is not being forthcoming about any details. When does silence become stonewalling?

If you are a Blackstone customer and want to ask questions, maybe they will talk with you.